Tom Dumont College Football and American Culture in the Cold War Chapter 5 Westwood: College Football and Cold War Dissent Chapter Notes College football was a vehicle for civil rights activists at UCLA -UCLA was very involved in Civil Rights movement, birthplace of Jackie Robinson, many considered UCLA to be a “racial paradise” -“Students understood football as an expression of laudable, distinctive American values that put the USA in sharp contrast to the USSR” – Pg. 156
Unique Cold War Experience in California- pg 161 -Black Population in LA in 1940 = 64,000, in 1960’s = 763,000 -“Blacks envisioned the West as a land of unlimited promise” Pg166 -“LA is showing the country what people of different races can do to live side by side in harmony” – UCLA student newspaper, pg 167. -“UCLA students have done as much combating prejudice in one day as any of us could have done in a year”- Civil Rights reformer and high school principal from Upstate NY, pg 168. UCLA Students, Similar to students @ Alabama and LSU, Used Football to portray their cultural/regional values -“Students closely linked the university’s athletic teams with their understanding of Western Exceptionalism”. Pg 170. Football Team at UCLA was integrated. UCLA grad Jackie Robinson Broke Color barrier in Baseball, UCLA grads Kenny Washington and Woody Strode broke the color barrier in the NFL, and UCLA grad Don Barksdale broke the color barrier in the NBA.---All of these occurred in late 1930’s. -Robinson on UCLA “I’ve never forgotten the wonderful spirit of UCLA”, UCLA alumni are “the proudest American in the world” pg 171 UCLA/USC Rivalry -UCLA and USC clashed and became Rivals on more than just football field -“Student’s comprehension of UCLA’s racial environment was further facilitated by their understandings of the private, wealthier, whiter, cross town rival USC…UCLA’s opening as a school coincided with a time when USC became increasingly hostile to colored students” -172 UCLA was not a total racial paradise, there still were boundaries. Pg 172-176 “Cuse the South, will you…and then go home and curse the landlord who let those awful wetbacks rent an apartment next door…who are you to curse the south?” Issues over UCLA President Kerr, cracked down and infringed upon Student Rights/Teacher Rights in an attempt to deflect rumors of Communism being preached at UCLA. “When faculty sent petitions to President Kennedy condemning the treatment of the Freedom Riders, Kerr prohibited them from identifying themselves as professors at UCLA. (Pic on page 177) Chancellor Murphy replaced Kerr said it was “manifest destiny of education to test the status quo”. Also supported free speech and association ^^^During all of the above, UCLA’s football team was having great year, “one win away from Rose Bowl Invitation”…and University of Alabama seemed to be most likely opponent. Leads to clash of ideologies based upon regionalism and varied Cold War University experiences at the two schools. “Just as the Supreme Court had provoked the South by attempting to force the issue of school integration, attempts by UCLA’s students to boycott the Rose Bowl might similarly enrage the South” –Pg 185. -. “It would do Southern boys some good to exchange a few whacks and thumps w/Negro players”- Pg. 185, UCLA paper promoting the game because it would use Football to teach Southerners Racial Equality. -Pg 187 Picture puts UCLA mascot in Civil War uniform. -Jim Murray of LA Examiner promoted Rose Bowl boycott because Alabama’s policies were “undemocratic and un American” CONCLUSIONS/KEY POINTS “Thus, the students linked the Rose Bowl to their assumptions of regional exceptionalism” 187 Also End of the Chapter discusses College Football as Big Business, and much of UCLA’S revenue was from Football. “By Succesfully linking football to the cause of the Freedom Riders, students suggested that accepting Alabama’s participation in the Rose Bowl was no less a rejection of American Values than accepting the beatings Alabama officials doled out to the Freedom Riders. As a result, students placed football in its postwar context as an expression of celebrated American values and in the process seized from the administration the meaning of football and put it to the service of an activist agenda”-191 “Football served to demonstrate to the student body at large the un-American connotations of segregation, heavy-handed university authority, and restrictions on free speech when students earlier had failed to see it in those terms. In that regard, football emerged as a postwar cultural lingua franca, universally understood by everyone because of its expression of values and identities linked to the American Way of Life” –Pg. 193
College Football and American Culture in the Cold War
Chapter 5 Westwood: College Football and Cold War Dissent
Chapter Notes
College football was a vehicle for civil rights activists at UCLA
-UCLA was very involved in Civil Rights movement, birthplace of Jackie Robinson, many considered UCLA to be a “racial paradise”
-“Students understood football as an expression of laudable, distinctive American values that put the USA in sharp contrast to the USSR” – Pg. 156
Unique Cold War Experience in California- pg 161
-Black Population in LA in 1940 = 64,000, in 1960’s = 763,000
-“Blacks envisioned the West as a land of unlimited promise” Pg166
-“LA is showing the country what people of different races can do to live side by side in harmony” – UCLA student newspaper, pg 167.
-“UCLA students have done as much combating prejudice in one day as any of us could have done in a year”- Civil Rights reformer and high school principal from Upstate NY, pg 168.
UCLA Students, Similar to students @ Alabama and LSU, Used Football to portray their cultural/regional values
-“Students closely linked the university’s athletic teams with their understanding of Western Exceptionalism”. Pg 170. Football Team at UCLA was integrated. UCLA grad Jackie Robinson Broke Color barrier in Baseball, UCLA grads Kenny Washington and Woody Strode broke the color barrier in the NFL, and UCLA grad Don Barksdale broke the color barrier in the NBA.---All of these occurred in late 1930’s.
-Robinson on UCLA “I’ve never forgotten the wonderful spirit of UCLA”, UCLA alumni are “the proudest American in the world” pg 171
UCLA/USC Rivalry
-UCLA and USC clashed and became Rivals on more than just football field
-“Student’s comprehension of UCLA’s racial environment was further facilitated by their understandings of the private, wealthier, whiter, cross town rival USC…UCLA’s opening as a school coincided with a time when USC became increasingly hostile to colored students” -172
UCLA was not a total racial paradise, there still were boundaries. Pg 172-176
“Cuse the South, will you…and then go home and curse the landlord who let those awful wetbacks rent an apartment next door…who are you to curse the south?”
Issues over UCLA President Kerr, cracked down and infringed upon Student Rights/Teacher Rights in an attempt to deflect rumors of Communism being preached at UCLA.
“When faculty sent petitions to President Kennedy condemning the treatment of the Freedom Riders, Kerr prohibited them from identifying themselves as professors at UCLA. (Pic on page 177)
Chancellor Murphy replaced Kerr said it was “manifest destiny of education to test the status quo”. Also supported free speech and association
^^^During all of the above, UCLA’s football team was having great year, “one win away from Rose Bowl Invitation”…and University of Alabama seemed to be most likely opponent. Leads to clash of ideologies based upon regionalism and varied Cold War University experiences at the two schools.
“Just as the Supreme Court had provoked the South by attempting to force the issue of school integration, attempts by UCLA’s students to boycott the Rose Bowl might similarly enrage the South” –Pg 185.
-. “It would do Southern boys some good to exchange a few whacks and thumps w/Negro players”- Pg. 185, UCLA paper promoting the game because it would use Football to teach Southerners Racial Equality.
-Pg 187 Picture puts UCLA mascot in Civil War uniform.
-Jim Murray of LA Examiner promoted Rose Bowl boycott because Alabama’s policies were “undemocratic and un American”
CONCLUSIONS/KEY POINTS
“Thus, the students linked the Rose Bowl to their assumptions of regional exceptionalism” 187
Also End of the Chapter discusses College Football as Big Business, and much of UCLA’S revenue was from Football.
“By Succesfully linking football to the cause of the Freedom Riders, students suggested that accepting Alabama’s participation in the Rose Bowl was no less a rejection of American Values than accepting the beatings Alabama officials doled out to the Freedom Riders. As a result, students placed football in its postwar context as an expression of celebrated American values and in the process seized from the administration the meaning of football and put it to the service of an activist agenda”-191
“Football served to demonstrate to the student body at large the un-American connotations of segregation, heavy-handed university authority, and restrictions on free speech when students earlier had failed to see it in those terms. In that regard, football emerged as a postwar cultural lingua franca, universally understood by everyone because of its expression of values and identities linked to the American Way of Life” –Pg. 193